To the Point

The Presidential Primary Process

New York and California have more Democrats than any other states, but presidential hopefuls Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt, Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman never got a chance to ask for their votes. Today, in those and eight other so-called -Super Tuesday- states, millions of Democrats may be doing little more than ratifying the decisions of 120,000 caucus-goers last month in Iowa. If that prediction proves true, voters in Florida, Texas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania won-t have any choice left at all. Has the early primary schedule created a bandwagon for front-runners that disenfranchise the bulk of the Party? Is -momentum- the best qualification for the November campaign? We hear from a political scientist, the Democratic National Committee, the National Association of Secretaries of State, and former Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Gary Hart. Making News: Blasts Kill at Least 143 at Shiite Ceremonies in Iraq This, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar has become the bloodiest day in Iraq since the end of major fighting. Explosions at Shiite mosques in Baghdad and Karbala have killed at least 143 people. Nicholas Blanford, who is in Baghdad for the Christian Science Monitor, says the simultaneous attacks were coordinated and combined suicide bombers with mortar fire. Reporter's Notebook: Findings from Mars Rover MissionSince yesterday, NASA has been telling reporters around the world that the Rover Opportunity has found something big. Today, the story was revealed at a news conference in Washington. David Grinspoon, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, says that evidence that there was once water on Mars offers an exceptional boost in understanding life in the Universe.